Synthesis, spectroscopic studies and biological activity of a novel nucleopeptide with Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase inhibitory activity

In this work, we report the synthesis of an alternate nucleo-alpha,epsilon-peptide based on l-lysine moieties, an in vitro study of its biological activity, and spectroscopical binding studies between the novel nucleopeptide and Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase as well as RNA. An alternate homothymine hexamer was synthesized by a straightforward solid phase route starting from commercial materials, purified by RP-HPLC and characterized by ESI-MS. The efficiency of the novel nucleo-alpha,epsilon-peptide in interfering with the reverse transcription of eukaryotic mRNA and the noteworthy enzymatic resistance demonstrated by specific assays are in favor of the employment of this nucleopeptide in novel biomedical strategies.